Nigerian Immigration Service denies secret exercise

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has denied allegation of undercover recruitment exercise of cadet officers into the service.

About 500 cadet officers are undergoing training at NIS Training School in Kano as part of hundreds of officers allegedly recruited after public advertisement.

The federal government placed embargo on recruitment of fresh intakes following the stampede in the failed 2014 exercise that led to the death of some applicants at some centres.

But the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mr. Muhammadu Babandede, yesterday told journalists in Kano at the opening of strategic planning and change management retreat for senior officers that the set of cadets undergoing training were recruited to replace some officers who lost their lives during the insurgency in northeast and those that left the service after declining deployment to the trouble zone.

Reacting to the recent protest of about 2,000 dismissed officers over alleged unlawful termination of their appointments, the Immigration boss explained that they were recruited illegally and issued authorised letter of appointment, insisting that they were never considered officers of the service at the point of entry.

“The 2,000 officers were not officially recruited in the first place. What actually happened was that they were assisted by a presidential committee on recruitment, but the committee did not pass through due process before the issuance of appointment letters.

“That was why the present government decided to dismiss them,” Babandede explained.

He, however, explained that the federal government has authorised the NIS to rescreen them for the purposed of restatement after undergoing security certification, drug test and age consideration.